1980 Hockey Olympic Usa

Ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics was held at the Olympic Arena and the Olympic Fieldhouse (now known as the Herb Brooks Arena) in Lake Placid, New York. Twelve teams competed in the tournament, which was held from February 12 to February 24. The United States won the gold medal, including a win over the Soviet Union that became known as the "Miracle on Ice".

Background

The Olympics came at a difficult time for Soviet–U.S. relations, as they were deep in the Cold War. Only months before the games began, the USSR had invaded Afghanistan, and there was a possibility that the strong Soviet team might not show up. However, they competed in the Lake Placid games in the end, although the United States as 65 other nations later boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

The Soviets had won every Winter Olympics ice hockey tournament since 1960, were well-seasoned and had been playing together for many years. In contrast, the Americans were a collection of college students (most from the rival schools of University of Minnesota and Boston University) with little history of playing together. However, the US team also featured several highly promising players who would go on to have successful careers in the National Hockey League after the Olympics.

Three days before the Olympics, Coach Herb Brooks scheduled an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden in New York City against the Soviet team. The Americans lost 10–3, and Defenseman Jack O'Callahan tore a ligament in his knee, though he returned before the medal round. Coach Brooks gave only a few interviews after the game.

Despite these setbacks, Brooks managed to unify his players, training them for a year (the core of the team had been assembled since the 1979 World Ice Hockey Championships in Moscow), and lead them to victory.

Going into the games, the teams were ranked and divided into two groups. The ranking was: Soviet Union (1), Czechoslovakia (2), Sweden (3), Canada (4), West Germany (5), Finland (6), United States (7), Poland (8), Netherlands (9), Romania (10), Norway (11), Japan (12).

Highlights

The USA vs USSR game, called the "Miracle on Ice" in the United States, is the best-remembered game of the tournament and the best-remembered international hockey game in the United States. It was the USA's penultimate game of the tournament's round-robin medal round. The USA's final game, against Finland, was the game which clinched the gold medal for the United States. Finland finished 4th in the overall standings. Another upset which is not always noticed, is when Poland defeated Finland, who ended up finishing 4th in the tournament, 5—4 during the Preliminary round.

Final ranking

Preliminary round

Blue Division

Red Division

Fifth place game

The third-placed teams in each division, Czechoslovakia and Canada, played each other to determine fifth place.

Medal Round

The top two teams from each group play the top two teams from the other group once. Points from previous games against their own group carry over, excluding teams who failed to make the medal round. First place team wins gold, second silver and third bronze.

Carried over group matches:

  • February 12: Sweden 2–2 USA
  • February 18: Finland 2–4 USSR

Statistics

Leading scorers

Hat trick scorers

Leading goaltenders

Goalkeepers with 40% or more of their team's total minutes.

Shut-outs

  •  Paul Pageau  (CAN) (vs. Japan)
  •  Jiří Králík  (TCH) (vs. Norway)
  •  William Löfquist  (SWE) (vs. Romania)
  •  Vladislav Tretiak  (URS) (vs. Japan)

References

  1. ^ "The Olympic Boycott, 1980". United States Department of State . http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/qfp/104481.htm . Retrieved 14 March 2010 .  
  2. ^ Coffey, Wayne (2005). The Boys of Winter (E-book edition ed.). New York City: Crown Publishers. pp. 318. ISBN 0307237311.  
  3. ^ Allen, Kevin (December 23, 2007). "College kids perform Olympic miracle". ESPN.com . http://espn.go.com/classic/s/miracle_ice_1980.html . Retrieved 14 March 2010 .  

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